Sliding-type cosmetic compact

ABSTRACT

In a sliding-type compact, a retainer casing  3  has at least a ceiling plate  3   a  for covering an upper face  2   e  of a case  2  body  2  slidably accommodated within the retainer casing and side plates suspended from both sides of the ceiling plate in a direction perpendicular to the sliding direction of the case body. The case body has a downwardly concaved section  2   a  for containing the cosmetic material, an annular packing  5  encircling the concaved section and extending upwards, and side walls disposed facing the side plates of the retainer casing in a state in which the case body is accommodated within the retainer casing. Either the side plates or the side walls are provided with slide rails  3   d  extending toward the other of the opposing side plates or side walls.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to a sliding-type compact having a cosmetic material storage compartment.

BACKGROUND ART

A sliding-type compact having a compartment for storing cosmetic material is known. For example, in the compact shown in Patent Document 1, a case body comprising a dish member having a cosmetic compartment and a cover member hinged to a rear end portion of the dish member to be openable thereto is configured to be slidable into and out of a frame body. At the closed position of the cover member, an annular packing member provided at the upper periphery of the dish member is made to contact a cylindrical rib provided at the lower periphery of the cover member. The frame body has fixing projections at intervals on both left and right inner walls thereof. Likewise, the dish member has other fixing projections at intervals on both left and right outer walls thereof. At the final stage of sliding insertion of the case body into the frame member, the upper surfaces on the projections on the frame member come into contact with the lower surfaces of the projections on the dish member to lift the dish member upwards to press the annular packing on the dish member and the cylindrical rib of the cover member against each other.

PRIOR ART DOCUMENTS Patent Literature

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Publication No. 5723565

SUMMARY Problem to be Solved

According to the sliding-type compact set forth above, in order to press the annular packing to the cylindrical rib by lifting the dish member upwards, the projections on the frame body and the other projections on the dish member are provided on the left and right side walls, respectively, at intervals in the sliding direction. Therefore, at the vicinities of the projections on the frame member and the dish member, high contact pressure can be expected between the annular packing and the cylindrical rib. However, such contact pressure will be reduced gradually at places as the projections separate, making it difficult to uniformly press the annular packing and the cylindrical rib together so as to keep the compact in a highly hermetic state.

The present disclosure was conceived in view of the problem of the conventional art set forth above, and has as an object to provide a sliding-type compact in which a storage compartment for the cosmetic material is maintained in a highly hermetic state.

Solution to the Problem

According to the present disclosure, a sliding-type compact comprises a case body for storing a cosmetic material and a retainer casing for slidably accommodating the case body therewithin. The retainer casing has at least a ceiling plate for covering an upper face of the case body slidably accommodated within the retainer casing and side plates suspended from both sides of the ceiling plate in a direction perpendicular to the sliding direction of the case body. The case body has a downwardly concaved section for containing the cosmetic material, an annular packing encircling the concaved section and extending upwards and side walls disposed facing the side plates of the retainer casing in a state in which the case body is accommodated within the retainer casing. Either the side plates or the side walls are provided with slide rails extending toward the other of the opposing side plates or side walls. The other of the side plates or side walls not provided with the slide rails are provided with guide grooves to engage with the slide rails when the case body is slid into or out from the retainer casing. The slide rails are arranged to engage with the guide grooves such that, when the case body is fully accommodated within the retainer casing and the annular packing is pressed against the ceiling plate, the annular packing is in uniform contact with the ceiling plate.

It is preferable that the slide rails are engaged with the guide grooves along the entire length thereof when the case body is fully accommodated within the retainer casing with the annular packing being pressed against the ceiling plate.

It is also preferable that both of the slide rails and the guide grooves are inclined upwards from an outermost position, where the container body is fully drawn outwardly by being slid out from the retainer casing, to an innermost position, where the container body is fully accommodated within the retainer casing.

It is also preferable that the slide rails are provided along the entire length of an area where the annular packing is provided in the sliding direction.

Also, it is preferable that the case body and the retainer casing are provided with a lock mechanism by which both the case body and the retainer casing engage each other at the innermost position where the case body is fully accommodated within the retainer casing.

Effects

The sliding-type compact of the present disclosure makes it possible to enhance the hermetic seal of the container body for the cosmetic material in the closed position thereof while providing comfortable opening and closing of the container body.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an exterior of a sliding-type compact according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the sliding-type compact shown in FIG. 1 in which a case body of the compact is drawn out;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the sliding-type compact shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line A-A in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken along line D-D in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged sectional view taken along line B-B in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line C-C in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line E-E in FIG. 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

A preferred embodiment of a sliding-type compact (referred to hereinafter as “compact”) of the present disclosure shall be described hereinafter with reference to the appended drawings. The compact 1 of the present embodiment comprises a slidable case body 2 for storing cosmetic material and a retainer casing 3 for slidably accommodating the case body 2 therewithin. When the case body 2 is accommodated within the retainer casing 3, the compact 1 assumes a substantially flat rectangular parallelepiped shape in which the height is shorter than the depth and width thereof.

In the following disclosure, in a state in which the compact is placed in a usable flat position, a vertical direction is the up or down direction, a sliding direction of the case body 2 is the depth direction and a direction orthogonal to the sliding direction is the width direction. Also, the directions in which the case body 2 is slid out from the retainer casing 3 and slid back into the retainer casing are defined as the front side and back side, respectively.

The retainer casing 3 comprises a substantially rectangular ceiling plate 3 a that forms an upper surface of the compact 1 and covers the upper side of the case body 2, side plates 3 b extending downwards from both lateral sides of the ceiling plate 3 a, and a rear wall plate 3 c which integrally connects the rear ends of the ceiling plate 3 a and the two side plates 3 b. The ceiling plate 3 a has a lower surface the major part of which except for the peripheral portion thereof is covered with a mirror or metallic flat plate 4 attached with the use of a double-faced adhesive. The lower surface of the ceiling plate 3 a and the lower surface of the flat plate 4 form substantially the same flat plane. It should be noted that, alternatively, the flat plate 4 can be attached to the ceiling plate by swaging or the like. Also, it should be noted that the rear wall plate 3 c can be omitted.

Each of the side plates 3 b is provided with a slide rail 3 d which projects inwards and is faced with another side rail on the opposite side plate. Both of the side rails are inclined to rise from the front side to the back side of the retainer casing 3. Furthermore, each slide rail 3 d is provided with an inward protrusion 3 e at the foremost proximal end thereof. A detailed explanation of the slide rails 3 d and the inward protrusion 3 e shall be given hereinafter.

The case body 2 has substantially the shape of a rectangular parallelepiped. The case body 2 is provided with a concaved portion 2 a for storing a cosmetic material therein substantially at the center thereof in the depth and width directions. The concaved portion 2 a has a substantially rectangular shape with curved corners and is divided into three compartments.

The case body 2 is provided with an annular groove 2 c at the upper peripheral surface thereof around the outside of a peripheral inner wall 2 b encircling the concaved portion 2 a. An elastic annular packing 5 is provided in the annular groove 2 c and projects upwards beyond the upper surface of the peripheral wall 2 b. An area S in which the annular packing 5 is provided along the depth direction of the case body, which is the direction of sliding, extends from a front section 5 a of the rectangular frame portion to a rear section 5 b of the rectangular frame portion.

The case body 2 has at its front end an upward projection 2 d extending the entire width thereof. The upward projection 2 d has substantially the same height as the peripheral inner wall 2 b of the case body 2 and is slightly higher than other upper surfaces of the rectangular frame portion 2 e.

The case body 2 has side walls 2 f each of which is provided with a slide groove 2 g sunken in the width direction. The width of the slide groove 2 g in the vertical direction is slightly larger than that of the slide rails 3 d on the retainer casing 3 and the inward protrusions 3 e. The slide groove 2 g is inclined upwardly from the front side of the case body 3 to the backside thereof, as are the slide rails 3 d of the retainer casing 3. The degree of inclination of the slide grooves 2 g is the same as that of the slide rails 3 d.

The slide groove 2 g is provided along the entire length of each side wall 2 f of the case body except for a small portion 2 h at a front end thereof. Inside of the slide groove 2 g, there is provided a front side protrusion 2 i and rear side protrusion 2 j, both of which extend outwards in the width direction. The front side protrusion 2 i is provided in the groove at an interval from the front end 2 h, which interval is substantially the same as the width of the inner protrusion 3 e in the depth direction of the retainer casing 3. The rear side projection 2 j is provided at the rear end of the groove 2 g. The height of each of the projections 2 i and 2 j is substantially the same as the height of the inner protrusion 3 e projecting from the slide rail 3 d in the retainer casing 3. The front side protrusion 2 i has a circular tip end and the rear side protrusion 2 j has a flat front face 2 k which intersects the lengthwise direction of the slide groove 2 g at substantially a right angle thereto.

The slide rail 3 d on the retainer casing 3 extends in the depth direction from an inner position apart from the front end thereof a length corresponding to the width of the front edge 2 h of the case body 2 in the depth direction. Therefore, when the case body 2 is fully contained in the retainer casing 3, the front edge 2 h of the case body 2 contacts the front end of the slide rail 3 d and the inner protrusion 3 e of the retainer casing 3, and also the protrusion 2 i at the front side in the slide groove positions at the rear side of the inner protrusion 3 e of the retainer casing 3. At this time, the front end 3 f of the retainer casing 3 and the front face 21 of the case body 2 form the same vertical plane.

The slide rail 3 d extends over an area S in the retainer casing 3 where the annular packing 5 is provided when the case body 2 is retracted into the retainer casing 3. Therefore, the retainer casing 3 has an area at the rear side where the slide rail 3 d does not extend. When the case body 2 is fully contained in the retainer casing 3, the protrusion 2 j at the rear end in the slide groove positions at the area where the slide rail 3 d does not extend.

With the compact 1 according to the present disclosure, in a state in which the case body 2 is contained in the retainer casing 3, the annular packing 5 provided around the concaved portion 2 a for storing the cosmetic material is pressed against the flat plate 4 and kept in a compressed state. This state is a completely closed state of the case body 2 in which the space containing the cosmetic material is kept in a hermetic state surrounded by the annular packing 5 and covered by the flat plate 4. At this time, it should be noted that there remains a small space between the upper surface of the peripheral outer wall 2 f as well as the upward projection 2 d of the case body 2 and the ceiling plate 3 a in order that the annular packing can be compressed without fail.

In this closed state in which the case body 2 is fully contained in the retainer casing 3, the inner protrusion 3 e in the retainer casing 3 is kept between the front edge 2 h and the front side protrusion 2 i of the case body 2 to prevent sliding movement of the case body 2 in the depth direction. The position of the case body 2 fully contained in the retainer casing is the contained position. The inner protrusion 3 e of the retainer casing 3 and the front edge 2 h and the front side protrusion 2 i of the case body 2 compose a lock mechanism.

When opening the concaved portion 2 a of the compact 1, if the case body 2 is drawn forwards from the retainer casing 3, the protrusion 2 i in the slide groove provided at the front side of the case body runs up onto the inner protrusion 3 e of the retainer casing 3 and the case body 2 is further advanced when the protrusion 2 i slides over and beyond the inner protrusion 3 e. At this time, since the protrusion 2 i has to run up onto the inner protrusion 3 e, a predetermined drawing force is required to draw the case body 2 out from the retainer casing 3, so that the above structure functions to prevent the case body from simply sliding out from the retainer casing 3.

Further, when the case body 2 is drawn forwards from the retainer casing 3, the slide rails 3 d, which are provided on the retainer casing 3 to be inclined upwards from the front side to rear side thereof, are guided by engaging with the slide grooves 2 g, which are similarly provided on the case body 3 to be inclined from the front side to the rear side thereof. Therefore, when the case body 2 is drawn forwards from the retainer casing 3, the case body 2 gradually separates from the ceiling plate 3 a and flat plate 4, which is a downward direction. Thus, the amount of compression of the annular packing 5 is reduced as the case body 2 is drawn forward.

The slide grooves 2 g on the case body 2 as well as the slide rails 3 d on the retainer casing 3 are both provided in the depth direction of the case body 2 substantially along the entire length thereof. Accordingly, when the case body 2 is drawn out from the retainer casing 3, the engagement between the side grooves 2 g and the slide rails 3 d is maintained over a longer range.

When the case body 2 is drawn out from the retainer casing 3, the flat faces 2 k of the protrusions 2 j at the rear end portion in the slide grooves of the case body are contacted against the inner protrusions 3 e at the front side of the retainer casing 3, whereby the further withdrawal of the case body is prevented. This state is the foremost withdrawn position of the case body 2 from the retainer casing 3 and is referred to as an open position of the case body.

When the case body 2 in the open position is to be retracted into the retainer casing 3, the case body 2 is pushed toward the depth direction into the retainer casing 3. Then, the case body 2 is guided by the engagement of the slide grooves 2 g with the slide rails 3 d and gradually moves up along the inclination of the slide grooves 2 g and slide rails 3 d toward the ceiling plate 3 a and flat plate 4.

While the case body 2 is moving toward the depth side of the retainer casing, when the protrusions 2 i in the grooves at front side thereof run up onto the inner protrusions 3 e of the retainer casing 3, it is necessary to increase the pushing force applied to the case body 2 until the protrusions 2 i get over the protrusions 3 e.

When the protrusions 2 i at the front side of the grooves of the case body 2 have gotten over the inner protrusions 3 e and reach the rear side of the protrusions 3 e the load slackens and the front ends of the slide rails 3 d and the inner protrusions 3 e of the retainer casing 3 come into contact with the rear surface of the front edge 2 h of the case body 2, whereby the case body keeps the closed position in the retainer casing 3. At this closed position, the annular packing 5 around the concaved portion 2 a for containing cosmetic material is pressed against the flat plate 4 of the retainer casing 3 with maximum pressure and the annular packing 5 is held under compression. At the final stage of the sliding movement of the case body 2, as the pushing pressure applied to the case body 2 is reduced and the sliding movement of the case body 2 to the depth direction is restricted, a user of the present compact can recognize that the concave portion 2 a is sealed.

In the sliding-type compact 1 of the embodiment of the present disclosure, the slide rails 3 d and the slide grooves 2 g, which engage each other when the case body 2 slides, are provided substantially along the entire length of the case body 2. Therefore, with the sliding movement, the slide rails 3 d and the slide grooves 2 g engage each other over a wider range of movement, which makes it possible to move the case body always in a steady state. Also, it becomes possible to attain comfortable opening and closing of the case body. Furthermore, in the closed position of the case body 2 where the annular packing 5 is compressed, since the slide rails 3 d and slide grooves 2 g engage each other in the entire area S where the annular packing 5 is provided, the reaction force caused by the compression of the annular packing 5 is absorbed over the entire length of the slide rails 3 d. Because of the above structure, the annular packing 5 is uniformly compressed along the entire length thereof and therefore evenly contacts the ceiling plate 3 a (flat plate 4), which makes it possible to enhance the hermetic seal of the area enclosed by the annular packing 5. Thus, it becomes possible to provide a compact that provides superior hermetic sealing of the concaved portion 2 a for storing the cosmetic material in the closed state thereof.

Further, since the slide rails 3 d and the guide grooves 2 g are inclined upwards from the outermost position where the container body 2 is drawn outwardly from the retainer casing 3 to an innermost position where the container body is fully accommodated within the retainer casing, the space between the case body and the ceiling plate 3 a (flat plate 4) becomes minimal at the closed position of the compact. Therefore, the annular packing 5 is compressed securely at the closed position and the compression of the packing is gradually released when the case body is drawn forward, which makes opening the compact easy for a user and reduces the frictional wear of the annular packing 5.

Furthermore, since the slide rails 3 d and the slide grooves 2 g of the compact have the lock mechanism, comprising the inner protrusion 3 e of the retainer casing, the front edge 2 h and the protrusion 2 i in the groove at the front side of the case body which engage each other to keep the closed position of the case body 2 in the retainer casing 3, it becomes possible to maintain a highly hermetic state in the space enclosed by the annular packing 5 between the flat plate 4 and the concaved portion 2 a for containing the cosmetic material.

The description of the above embodiment is given to facilitate an understanding of the present disclosure and is not intended to limit the same. The present embodiment can be modified or altered within the scope of the present disclosure and the appended claims and includes all equivalents thereof.

EXPLANATION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

-   1 compact -   2 case body -   2 a concaved portion for containing cosmetic material -   2 b peripheral wall -   2 c concaved portion -   2 d protrusion -   2 e upper surface -   2 f side wall of the case -   2 g slide groove -   2 h front edge of the case -   2 i protrusion in groove -   2 j protrusion in groove -   2 k flat face -   2 l front face of container body -   3 retainer casing -   3 a ceiling plate -   3 b side plate of case body -   3 c rear wall -   3 d slide rail -   3 e inner protrusion -   3 f front edge of case body -   4 flat plate -   5 annular packing -   5 a front portion of annular packing -   5 b rear portion of annular packing -   S area provided with annular packing 

1. A sliding-type compact comprising a case body for storing a cosmetic material and a retainer casing for slidably accommodating the case body therewithin, the retainer casing having at least a ceiling plate for covering an upper face of the case body slidably accommodated within the retainer casing and side plates suspended from both sides of the ceiling plate in a direction perpendicular to the sliding direction of the case body, the case body having a downwardly concaved section for containing the cosmetic material, an annular packing encircling the concaved section and extending upwards, and side walls disposed facing the side plates of the retainer casing in a state in which the case body is accommodated within the retainer casing, either the side plates or the side walls being provided with slide rails extending toward the other of the opposing side plates or side walls, the other of the side plates or side walls not provided with the slide rails being provided with guide grooves to engage with the slide rails when the case body is slid into or out from the retainer casing, both of the slide rails and the guide grooves being inclined upwards from an outermost position, where the container body is fully drawn outwardly by being slid out from the retainer casing, to an innermost position, where the container body is fully accommodated within the retainer casing, the slide rails being arranged to engage with the guide grooves such that, when the case body is fully accommodated within the retainer casing and the annular packing is pressed against the ceiling plate, the annular packing is in uniform contact with the ceiling plate.
 2. A sliding-type compact as claimed in claim 1, wherein the slide rails are engaged with the guide grooves along the entire length thereof when the case body is fully accommodated within the retainer casing with the annular packing being pressed against the ceiling plate.
 3. (canceled)
 4. A sliding-type compact as claimed in claim 1, wherein the slide rails are provided along the entire length of an area where the annular packing is provided in the sliding direction.
 5. A sliding-type compact as claimed in claim 1, wherein the case body and the retainer casing are provided with a lock mechanism by which both the case body and the retainer casing engage each other at the innermost position where the case body is fully accommodated within the retainer casing. 